The present invention relates to an article support structure, and more particularly to an article support structure and article attachment kit employed when attaching an article to an adherend via a double-sided adhesive tape.
A variety of types of sticky film and sticky tabs and the like, commonly referred to as adhesive tape, have been proposed and implemented for diverse purposes. For example, stretch-release adhesive tape being releasable adhesive tape in which the adhesive tape is stretched and can be removed from the adherend without damage to the adherend, has been implemented in recent years.
For example, in International Patent Publication (Kohyo) No. 6-504077, a removable adhesive tape being an adhesive tape comprised of pressure-sensitive adhesive supported on a backing and at least one primary surface, wherein the backing can be stretched to a rupture point of between 150% and 1200% in the length direction with elastic recovery following extension of less than 50%, and having a Young's modulus of at least 175.8 kg/cm2 (2500 psi) and less than 5097 kg/cm2 (72,500 psi), the tape can bond strongly to the base material, and furthermore can be removed after pulling at an angle of 35° or less with the surface of the base material, and the backing has a rupture point tensile strength sufficiently high so that the backing is not destroyed prior to removal of the tape from the surface of the base material, is disclosed. An example of a commercially available stretch releasable adhesive tape is the product ‘Command’ available from 3M Corp., St. Paul, Minn.
Furthermore, in German Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 3331016, a stretch-release adhesive tape based on a thermoplastic rubber such as a styrene-butadiene block copolymer and an adhesive forming resin such as a rosin conductor, having a high rubber elasticity and low plasticity, adhesive strength less than cohesive strength, retaining strength appropriately reduced by stretching of the tape, a ratio of release strength to tensile strength of 1:2 or greater, and bonding due to the adhesive manifested by the tape cancelled in the direction of the adhesive surface during stretching of the adhesive tape, is disclosed. It is reported that this adhesive tape, also, can be stretched and removed without damage to the adherend. However, when this adhesive tape is applied to polyvinyl chloride films including a plasticizer, for example walls covered in soft polyvinyl chloride-based wallpaper, the plasticizer migrates to the adhesive of the tape, and both adhesive strength and cohesive strength are reduced.
Adhesive tapes suitable for application to soft polyvinyl chloride films including large amounts of plasticizer have also been proposed. For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 8-311414, an acrylic adhesive tape formed from a plurality of adhesive layers, the exposed adhesive layer formed from an adhesive comprised of an adhesive being primarily formed of 100 parts by weight of a copolymer of (meta) alkyl acrylate ester monomer and between 1 and 10 parts by weight of a (meta) acrylic monomer, and this associated adhesive layer being formed from an adhesive comprised primarily of a copolymer of (meta) alkyl acrylate ester, is disclosed. This adhesive tape is reported as showing sufficient values for initial adhesive strength and cohesive strength, with both being balanced, and superior adhesive performance without migration of plasticizers and the like in polyvinyl chloride plastics, especially thermoplastic polyvinyl chloride plastics.
However, when the adhesive used in the adhesive tape is applied to polyvinyl chloride plastic wallpaper, additional to difficulties derived from the material, difficulties occur in following the concave-convex structure of the surface associated with the design of the wallpaper.
An adhesive system adhering well to an adherend having a concave-convex structure of the surface, and to a polyvinyl chloride plastic adherend, and an adhesive method, have been previously proposed. However, when the adhesive tape is released from the adherend, the adherend in which the adhesive tape is applied may be damaged or destroyed in some cases. This problem occurs particularly with wallpaper in wide domestic use, otherwise known as ‘cloth’. This is due to the fact that wallpaper comprises a foam plastic material being of very high-sensitivity, and therefore in the final stage of the process of release, there is the possibility that at least part of the wallpaper surface may be damaged. Under certain conditions, at the completion of the process of release, there is the possibility that part of the wallpaper surface may tear, and simultaneously, plastic fragments (for example, hooks, and support parts attached to hooks) applied to the wallpaper may fly-off.
In International Patent Publication (Kohyo) No. 8-507941, an article support adhering to a base (the ‘adherend’ in the present application), including a base plate and a stretch-release adhesive tape adhering to the base plate, and wherein by pulling the adhesive tape from the base surface at an angle of approximately 35° or less, the base plate can be released from the base, is disclosed. With this article support, since a part without adhesive is created only on the top side of the double-sided adhesive tape, and this part is applied to the base plate, when the adhesive tape is stretched and released from the base, the base plate separates first from the adhesive tape, and the base plate flying-off can be prevented. However, with the article support of this configuration, since the stretch-release force must be supported by the surface of the base, a large tensile stress is applied by the base, and therefore, with wallpaper such as high-sensitivity polyvinyl chloride and the like, the wallpaper surface may be damaged.
Furthermore, in International Patent Publication (Kohyo) No. 2002-517542, an adhesive product suitable for releasable application to a support surface being the surface of the adherend, and including a base plate and a stretch-release adhesive strip (adhesive tape) between the bottom of the base plate and the support surface, and further including joining means (a projecting part) to engage support surfaces when pressed in the direction of the support surface, is disclosed. With this adhesive product, since a projecting part is provided on the base plate, a fixed gap can be provided between the adherend and the adhesive product even when the adhesive product is pressed in the direction of the support surface, and therefore damage to, and tearing of, the adhesive strip can be prevented. However, despite the above, it is difficult to stretch-release the surface of the highly-sensitive adherend in the final stage of stretch-release without damage due to the end of the adhesive strip.
Furthermore, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2004-41535, a hanger fitting having a base attached to the attachment surface of an adherend such as a wall and the like with a double-sided adhesive tape, and a hanger fitting body able to be freely attached to and removed from the base, and a projection-shaped holder part preventing the base flying off when the stretch-release tape is pulled off the attachment surface of the adherend, in a hanger fitting using stretch-release tape released in a direction approximately parallel to the attachment surface as a double-sided adhesive tape. With this hanger fitting, since the projection-shaped holder part is provided, the stretch-release tape is clamped in this projection-shaped holder part and pulled off, and careless flying-off of the base can be prevented. However, if the force applied to the holder part is in the direction in which the hanger fitting is pressed against the wall surface, tearing midway along the stretch-release tape, and damage to the wall surface and the like may occur.